JOHANNESBURG - Dillon Smit's season is seemingly over. That much was revealed by the Lions when it was confirmed that the scrumhalf would undergo an operation to his dislocated left shoulder on Tuesday.
The early prognosis is a devastating one for Smit, with an expected recovery time of between 4-6 months, although the team did admit that the injury will again be assessed after the surgery.
Smit picked up the injury during the first half of his team's opening Super Rugby Unlocked clash against the Sharks last week.
The No 9 valiantly tried to soldier on for several minutes after receiving the injury - sustained while covering an attacking kick which prevented Sharks' centre Marius Louw from scoring - but in the end the dejected 27-year-old had no choice but to be replaced by Morne van den Berg.
It is yet another setback for the Smit, who has been plagued by injury during his career and who was showing promising signs of finding match-winning form during the Lions' pre-season and also against the Sharks throughout this month.
The Lions will now have to choose his replacement in the starting XV from their current stock of scrumhalves, which includes youngster Van den Berg, Springbok Ross Cronje or former Blue Bulls player Andre Werner.
The Johannesburg team play the Stormers on Saturday (kick off 7pm) in Cape Town and it is highly likely that the 31-year-old Cronje will step up to the plate and take over from the now sidelined Smit, with either Werner - the most likely candidate - or Van den Berg on the bench.
Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen will make his team selection for the clash on Thursday.
@FreemanZAR